Welcome to Science Saturday, where the Overnight News Digest crew, consisting of founder Magnifico, regular editors maggiejean, wader, Man Oh Man, side pocket, rfall, and JML9999, alumni editors palantir, Bentliberal, Oke, jlms qkw, Interceptor7, and ScottyUrb, guest editors annetteboardman and Doctor RJ, and current editor-in-chief Neon Vincent, along with anyone else who reads and comments, informs and entertains you with this week's news about science, space, health, energy, and the environment.
Between now and the end of the primary season, Overnight News Digest: Science Saturday will highlight the research stories from the public universities in each of the states having primary or special elections for federal or state office this year plus stories from all research universities in major cities having municipal elections as listed in the Green Papers or the 2014 Daily Kos Elections Calendar. Tonight's edition features the research and outreach stories from Arizona, Delaware, Florida, Massachussets, and New York.
This week's featured story comes from the Saturday Gazette-Mail of West Virginia, Hat/Tip to annetteboardman.
Fight to preserve Blair Mountain, labor history, continues
By Paul J. Nyden
Vigorous debates continue about how extensively the historic Blair Mountain Battlefield, the site of the largest armed confrontation in American labor history, should be preserved.
The United Mine Workers and Friends of Blair Mountain, two major parties in the ongoing debate, want to prevent strip mining from damaging the battlefield itself and other areas surrounding it.
The March on Blair Mountain began in Marmet, and ended up at the mountain on the border of Boone and Logan counties.
Between Aug. 25 and Sept. 2, 1921, more than 10,000 union coal miners battled with local law enforcement officers and coal company guards along Blair Mountain Ridge.
More stories after the jump.
Recent Science Diaries and Stories
Spotlight on green news & views: Solar project in WV, high dam removed in WA, offshore fracking
by Meteor Blades
Milgram - Obedience vs Humanity
by Jaxpagan
"My e-car runs on HEMP" - breakthrough in supercapacitor-science
by elziax
LaBrea Tar Pits Museum (Photo Diary)
by Lenny Flank
This week in science: of mites and men
by DarkSyde
Slideshows/Videos
Red Orbit: Signs of Life: How NASA JPL Uses Big Data to Explore Mars
In 60 minutes, NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory accelerates discovery by 840% and explores Mars more quickly
High-performance computing in the cloud has enhanced the close collaboration between mission control and IT. As expert users of infrastructure-rather than simply infrastructure experts-IT has become tightly integrated into the mission teams.
Research at the speed of light with big data cloud computing
The vast red plains and pink sky of Mars hint that volcanoes, meteors, and flash floods once shaped the landscape. Today, a number of robots, sent by NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, explore the atmosphere and surface of Mars. These rovers are on a quest to find out whether the red planet is, or ever was, an environment able to support life.
However, giving instructions to a Mars rover is more difficult than most people realize. Unfortunately, there's no joystick controller a scientist can use to move the rover around. In fact, there's no real-time communication at all. Scientists are only able to communicate with the Mars Science Laboratory Curiosity rover during short windows that occur once or twice a day. And transmissions that travel at the speed of light still take between 7 and 20 minutes to reach the rover itself.
Hat/Tip to annetteboardman for these stories.
Discovery News: How Does Ebola Kill You?
The current ebola outbreak is the deadliest one in history. How exactly does this virus kill? Trace explains how the virus itself doesn’t kill people.
NASA: Space Launch System milestone on This Week @NASA
On August 27, NASA announced a milestone in development of the Space Launch System heavy-lift rocket. The completion of a rigorous review known as Key Decision Point C, or KDP-C, means NASA can transition from formulation to development of the rocket that will send humans beyond Earth orbit and to Mars. KDP-C outlines a conservative development cost baseline and a launch readiness schedule based on an initial SLS flight no later than November 2018. This marks the country's first commitment to building an exploration class launch vehicle since the Space Shuttle Program. Also, 3-D printed rocket injector test, SLS scale model test, Composite fuel tank tests, Crossing Neptune’s orbit, New Horizons: Continuing Voyager’s legacy and more!
NASA: SS Benefits for Humanity: Found at Sea
The Vessel-ID System investigation on the International Space Station demonstrated the ability for a space-based radio receiver to track a ship’s Automatic Identification System (AIS) signal, the marine equivalent of the air traffic control system. Since being turned on in 2010, Vessel-ID has been able to relay more than 400,000 ship position reports from more than 22,000 ships in a single day, proving a quantum leap in the ship tracking ability of coast guards around the world. This ability, coupled with multiple AIS tracking satellites launched since, is already making travel among the waves safer for thousands of ships around the globe.
Science at NASA: ScienceCasts: Evidence for Supernovas Near Earth
A NASA sounding rocket has confirmed that the solar system is inside an ancient supernova remnant. Life on Earth survived despite the nearby blasts.
JPL: The Rosetta Mission Asks: What Can We Learn from Comets?
The Rosetta mission will give us an unprecedented look inside a comet, watching the icy traveler become active as it nears the sun. What can we learn from this adventure?
Composed of an orbiter and lander, Rosetta's objectives since arriving at comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko in August 2014 are to study the celestial object up close in unprecedented detail, prepare for landing a probe on the comet's nucleus in November, and track its changes through 2015, as it sweeps past the sun.
JPL: What's Up for September 2014
View the red star Antares near the red planet Mars, plus the Zodiacal Light that points towards Jupiter in the morning sky.
Hubble Space Telescope: Tonights Sky: September 2014
Backyard stargazers get a monthly guide to the northern hemisphere's skywatching events with "Tonight's Sky." In September, Mars and Saturn are visible low in the evening sky and the star cluster M2 in Aquarius is featured.
Discovery News: How Do Astronauts Shave In Space?
Personal hygiene becomes very difficult when there’s a lack of gravity. How do astronauts shave and brush their teeth in space? Trace breaks down the ways that astronauts take care of their bodies.
Astronomy/Space
Red Orbit: Memory Reformat Planned For Opportunity Mars Rover
Guy Webster, NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory
An increasing frequency of computer resets on NASA’s Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity has prompted the rover team to make plans to reformat the rover’s flash memory.
The resets, including a dozen this month, interfere with the rover’s planned science activities, even though recovery from each incident is completed within a day or two.
Flash memory retains data even when power is off. It is the type used for storing photos and songs on smart phones or digital cameras, among many other uses. Individual cells within a flash memory sector can wear out from repeated use. Reformatting clears the memory while identifying bad cells and flagging them to be avoided.
Red Orbit: NASA Probes Studying Earth’s Radiation Belts to Celebrate Two Year Anniversary
WASHINGTON, Aug. 29, 2014 PRNewswire-USNewswire — NASA’s twin Van Allen Probes will celebrate on Saturday two years of studying the sun’s influence on our planet and near-Earth space. The probes, shortly after launch in August 2012, discovered a third radiation belt around Earth when only two had previously been detected.
The radiation belts are layers of energetic charged particles held in place by the magnetic field surrounding our planet. The new third belt occurred only occasionally but persisted for as long as a month. This revealed to scientists the dynamic and variable nature of the radiation belts and provided new insight into how they respond to solar activity.
“The primary science objective of the Van Allen Probes is to provide understanding of how particles in the radiation belts form and change in response to energy input from the sun,” said Mona Kessel, the mission’s program scientist at NASA Headquarters in Washington. “The discoveries and understanding gained have far exceeded expectations.”
Hat/Tip to annetteboardman for these stories.
University of Arizona: UA Astronomers Witness Asteroid Smashup
Using NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope, UA astronomers have spotted an eruption of dust suggesting planets are forming around a young star 1,200 light-years from Earth.
By University Relations - Communications
August 28, 2014
Using data taken by NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope, astronomers at the University of Arizona have spotted an eruption of dust around a young star, possibly the result of a smashup between large asteroids. This type of collision can eventually lead to the formation of terrestrial planets.
A few months after scientists began tracking the star, called NGC 2547-ID8, it surged with a huge amount of fresh dust between August 2012 and January 2013.
"We think two big asteroids crashed into each other, creating a huge cloud of grains the size of very fine sand, which are now smashing themselves into smithereens and slowly leaking away from the star," said Huan Meng, the study's lead author and a graduate student in the UA's Department of Planetary Sciences.
Arizona State University: NASA, ASU partner to engage citizens in space exploration
Posted: August 27, 2014
In its history, the Earth has been repeatedly struck by asteroids – large chunks of rock from space that can cause considerable damage in a collision. Can we, or should we, try to protect Earth from potentially hazardous impacts?
How about harvesting asteroids for potential economic benefits? What do we do if we find an asteroid that threatens Earth? How should we balance costs, risks and benefits of human exploration in space?
Sounds like questions for rocket scientists. But how would you like to be part of this discussion?
Florida State University: Scientist uncovers Red Planet's climate history in unique meteroite
Kathleen Laufenberg
08/27/2014 12:03 pm
Was Mars — now a cold, dry place — once a warm, wet planet that sustained life? And if so, how long has it been cold and dry?
Research underway at the National High Magnetic Field Laboratory may one day answer those questions — and perhaps even help pave the way for future colonization of the Red Planet. By analyzing the chemical clues locked inside an ancient Martian meteorite known as Black Beauty, Florida State University Professor Munir Humayun and an international research team are revealing the story of Mars’ ancient, and sometimes startling, climate history.
The team’s most recent finding of a dramatic climate change appeared in Nature Geoscience, in the paper “Record of the ancient Martian hydrosphere and atmosphere preserved in zircon from a Martian meteorite.”
Climate/Environment
Red Orbit: Algal Growth A Blooming Problem Space Station To Help Monitor
Jessica Nimon, International Space Station Program Science Office NASA's Johnson Space Center
The green stuff that clouds up fish tanks - it's not just an aesthetic annoyance. In fact, if you've been watching recent news of algal bloom concerns in Lake Erie, you know that the right conditions for algae can lead to contamination of local water sources, potentially impacting aquatic life and humans. What you might not have known is that among the resources to help study this problem you will find the International Space Station's Hyperspectral Imager for the Coastal Ocean (HICO).
This instrument, mounted to the exterior of the orbiting laboratory, provides a way for researchers to see 90 wavelengths of light not visible to the human eye. This can help with research on harmful algal blooms (HABs) because they, along with other organic materials, have a "spectral signature." The biological matter emits a unique wavelength as it absorbs and scatters solar energy, resulting in fluorescence and backscattering. Essentially the light reflects back to HICO, which reads the data like a fingerprint.
Hat/Tip to annetteboardman for these stories.
University of Arizona: Harvesting Moonsoon Rains
There are numerous water harvesting features integrated throughout the UA campus.
By Amanda Ballard, University Relations - Communications
August 28, 2014
Water is arguably the most valuable resource in the Southwest. California is currently facing record-breaking heat, adding to its already shrinking reservoirs, and nearly 70 percent of Arizona is classified as being in a state of "severe" drought according to the U.S. Drought Monitor website.
With only 12 inches of rain on average per year according to U.S. Climate Data, and most of those 12 inches falling during monsoons, water harvesting efforts have become a critical practice in Tucson.
"In this region when we get large storms, the rain typically falls fast," said Grant McCormick, campus planner for UA Planning, Design and Construction and manager for the UA Enterprise Geographic Information System...
He said rapid downpours lead to lots of water in a short amount of time, creating a potential missed opportunity to use the water on-site, and often urban flooding as well.
Cornell University: Study: Southwest may face 'megadrought' within century
By Blaine Friedlander
August 25, 2014
Due to global warming, scientists say, the chances of the southwestern United States experiencing a decadelong drought is at least 50 percent, and the chances of a “megadrought” – one that lasts up to 35 years – ranges from 20 to 50 percent over the next century.
The study by Cornell, University of Arizona and U.S. Geological Survey researchers will be published in a forthcoming issue of the American Meteorological Society’s Journal of Climate.
“For the southwestern U.S., I’m not optimistic about avoiding real megadroughts,” said Toby Ault, Cornell assistant professor of earth and atmospheric sciences and lead author of the paper. “As we add greenhouse gases into the atmosphere – and we haven’t put the brakes on stopping this – we are weighting the dice for megadrought.”
Biodiversity
Red Orbit: Scientists Discover Mite Species Living, Eating, Sleeping And Fornicating On Human Faces
Chuck Bednar for redOrbit.com – Your Universe Online
There are mites crawling all over your face right now, and it doesn’t matter what you do or how hard you wash or how much soap you use, you can’t get rid of them – and you can thank North Carolina State University graduate student Megan S. Thoemmes and her colleagues for that unsettling bit of knowledge.
Thoemmes, who is currently studying in the NC State Department of Biological Sciences and the W.M. Keck Center for Behavioral Biology, is co-author of a study appearing in the latest edition of the journal PLOS ONE which describes Demodex mites, a group of hair follicle and sebaceous gland-dwelling species that eat, sleep and even fornicate on human faces.
Hat/Tip to annetteboardman for these stories.
University of Delaware: Pavilion Lake Project
CEOE's Biddle part of international team studying microbes in high-altitude lake
1:49 p.m., Aug. 25, 2014--As a microbiologist who has been studying microorganisms for many years, the University of Delaware’s Jennifer Biddle is an enthusiastic member of a research team that is studying the extreme environment of a deep, cold, high-altitude lake in Canada to learn more about the origins and development of life on Earth.
The Pavilion Lake Research Project is a multi-disciplinary effort led by Darlene Lim, a geobiologist at the NASA Ames Research Center, to explore a unique environment that could potentially answer some very important questions in the scientific community and also help plan the next extraterrestrial space mission.
The project – funded by NASA and previously by the Canadian Space Agency (CAS) -- focuses on Pavilion Lake, located in Marble Canyon in British Columbia, a body of water that presents a great opportunity to study extremophiles, or organisms that thrive in extreme environments, which is the hook for Biddle, assistant professor in the School of Marine Science and Policy in UD’s College of Earth, Ocean, and Environment.
University of Arizona: Your Secret Food Supplier: The Humble Honeybee
Honeybees play a vital, behind-the-scenes role in Arizona's agricultural industry.
By Shelley Littin, University Relations - Communications
August 28, 2014
The next time you tuck into a salad, thank a honeybee.
"Honeybees are responsible for pollinating agricultural crops that make up one-third of our diet, including fruits and vegetables. They're the cornerstones of heart-healthy and cancer prevention diets," says Gloria DeGrandi-Hoffman, an adjunct professor in the Department of Entomology in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences at the University of Arizona and a research leader at the Carl Hayden Bee Research Center in the Agricultural Research Service of the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
"We're the honeybee nutrition lab," DeGrandi-Hoffman said. "Humans are healthier when we have good nutrition and so are bees. We study the effects of malnutrition on bees, including the effects of fungicides and pesticides and how they alter the ability of bees to acquire nutrients from flower nectar."
The lab also looks at the role of microbes in the ability of bees to digest their food and acquire nutrients from it.
Northern Arizona University: From water to land and back, the mosquitofish is on a roll
August 27, 2014
Some fish will leap out of water to escape a predator, but the dramatic exit doesn’t do much good without an effective technique for returning. The mosquitofish, it turns out, not only finds its way back—it chooses the most energy-efficient method for doing so.
Stop-action photography and analysis from the lab of Alice Gibb, professor of biology at Northern Arizona University, reveals that the mosquitofish will either roll or leap back to the water, depending on body position on a slope. The findings, which appear in PLOS One, help answer a fundamental question about how animals make the transition to new habitats.
According to Gibb, the sensory system that governs balance and orientation may be the fundamental system to allow vertebrates to make the transition from life in the water to life on the land—an observation with evolutionary implications. “We would expect this to be true for the first vertebrates to emerge onto land as well,” Gibb said.
University of Delaware: Protecting sharks, sturgeon
Researchers developing fishing forecast to help watermen avoid vulnerable species
8:54 a.m., Aug. 27, 2014--When fishermen are at sea to catch monkfish, fluke or other commercial seafood, much larger fish can unintentionally wind up in their nets. Hauling in sand tiger sharks and Atlantic sturgeon can be particularly problematic -- not only are they big, they are protected by strict regulations.
Researchers from the University of Delaware and Delaware State University are developing an innovative daily fishing forecast — similar to a weather report — that could help watermen avoid accidentally catching sharks and sturgeon as bycatch.
“Based on environmental observations in real-time, we are going to make probability predictions of those two species to give another layer of information to fishermen,” said Matt Oliver, assistant professor of oceanography in the University of Delaware’s College of Earth, Ocean, and Environment (CEOE).
Biotechnology/Health
University of Arizona: UA Science Could Make Canola Oil More Nutritious, and Broccoli More Tasty
Genomics researchers of the University of Arizona's iPlant collaborative have helped unravel the genetic code of the canola plant.
By Daniel Stolte, University Relations - Communications
August 25, 2014
Genomics researchers of the University of Arizona's iPlant collaborative, housed in the BIO5 Institute, have helped unravel the genetic code of the rapeseed plant, most noted for a variety whose seeds are made into canola oil.
The findings will help breeders select for desirable traits such as richer oil content and faster seed production. Other potential applications include modifying the quality of canola oil, making it more nutritious and adapting the plants to grow in more arid regions.
In addition, they help scientists better understand how plant genomes evolve in the context of domestication. Brassica plants have been bred all over the world for centuries and resulted in produce and products diverse enough for supermarkets to place them across several different aisles.
Broccoli, cauliflower, Brussels sprouts, Chinese cabbage, turnip, collared greens, mustard, canola oil – all these are different incarnations of the same plant genus,
Brassica.
University of Arizona: UA Discovery Shows Curcumin Blocks the Metastasis of Colon Cancer by a Novel Mechanism
Novel research led by the UA Steele Children’s Research Center has identified one of the mechanisms by which curcumin, a bioactive molecule derived from the spice turmeric, can prevent cancer cell metastasis in colon cancer.
By Darci Slaten, AHSC Office of Public Affairs
August 25, 2014
A team of researchers led by the University of Arizona's Steele Children's Research Center discovered that curcumin – the bioactive molecule derived from the spice turmeric – blocks the protein cortactin in colon cancer.
Cortactin, a protein essential for cell movement, frequently is overexpressed in cancer, thus facilitating cancer cell metastasis to other organs in the body.
Colon cancer is the second leading cause of cancer-related deaths in the United States and the third most common cancer in men and women. When cancer metastasizes to other organs, a patient's chances of survival are greatly diminished. Thus, finding novel ways to prevent cancer metastasis remains an urgent need.
Florida Atlantic University: Facts and Myths about Calcium and Vitamin D Supplements
Benefits on Bone Health are Definite, but No Strong Evidence for Hazards on Heart Attacks
BOCA RATON, Fla. (August 25, 2014) – Calcium and vitamin D are essential to keeping bones strong, dense and healthy as we age, as well as preventing bone loss, osteporosis, and skeletal fractures. Calcium builds and maintains healthy bones and vitamin D assists with absorption and increased uptake.
Alarmingly, 90 percent of women in the U.S. are deficient in calcium and 50 to 90 percent are deficient in vitamin D. These numbers are even higher among minorities, including Hispanics and African-Americans. Even among children, 30 to 40 percent are already deficient in calcium and vitamin D.Furthermore, about 50 percent of women and 20 percent of men aged 50 and older will have a fracture as a result of osteoporosis.
Clinicians and patients have become concerned about the possible, but unproven links between calcium supplements and heart attacks. In an editorial published in the current issue of the Journal of Cardiovascular Pharmacology and Therapeutics, E. Joan Barice, M.D., M.P.H., affiliate associate professor, and Charles H. Hennekens, M.D., Dr.P.H., first Sir Richard Doll professor and senior academic advisor to the dean in the Charles E. Schmidt College of Medicine at Florida Atlantic University, provide reassurances to clinicians and their patients about calcium and vitamin D supplements and cardiovascular disease.
Cornell University: Animal joint surgeries may lead to human repairs
By Krishna Ramanujan
August 25, 2014
A pair of unique surgical procedures performed on animals promises to revolutionize the ways surgeons repair cartilage and meniscus tears in human knees and other joints.
In the first set of procedures, a cross-institutional, interdisciplinary team of surgeons and researchers tried a new method for cartilage repair on horses at the Cornell University Hospital for Animals Aug. 21.
Another team will try a meniscus repair procedure on sheep Sept. 3 and 4. The meniscus repair involves custom-designed and individualized replacement parts. With information from an MRI scan of the patient’s joint, the researchers will use a 3-D printer to assemble an artificial meniscus fitted to the patient’s body.
Psychology/Behavior
Arizona State University: How parents of anxious children can avoid 'protection trap'
Posted: August 25, 2014
Parents naturally comfort their children when they are scared, but new research shows that some reactions may actually reinforce their children’s feelings of anxiety.
A new Arizona State University study reveals that parents whose children suffer from anxiety often fall into the “protection trap” that may influence their child’s behavior. The paper, “Variations in the Influence of Parental Socialization of Anxiety among Clinic Referred Children,” was published in the journal Child Psychiatry and Human Development by ASU graduate student Lindsay Holly, who is earning her doctoral degree in clinical psychology, and Armando A. Pina, ASU associate professor in child developmental psychology in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences. Researchers analyzed self-report questionnaires and clinical interviews that were completed by 70 children, ages 6 to 16, who were being treated for anxiety at a university-based program.
“Anxiety in kids is one of the most common disorders in childhood," Holly said. "A certain amount of anxiety is normal and necessary to stay safe. It’s when the problematic levels of anxiety crop up – when you can’t go to school or hang out with friends – that it becomes a major problem. That’s when we can really look at what parents are doing and guide them in having a big impact on helping their kids cope with fears.”
SUNY Buffalo: Study finds less domestic violence among married couples who smoke pot
"These findings suggest that marijuana use is predictive of lower levels of aggression towards one's partner in the following year."
By Cathy Wilde
August 26, 2014
BUFFALO, N.Y. – New research findings from a study of 634 couples found that the more often they smoked marijuana, the less likely they were to engage in domestic violence.
The study, conducted by researchers in the University at Buffalo School of Public Health and Health Professions and Research Institute on Addictions (RIA), appeared in the online edition of Psychology of Addictive Behaviors in August.
The study attempted to clarify inconsistent findings about domestic violence among pot-smoking couples that primarily has been based on cross-sectional data (i.e., data from one point in time).
Archeology/Anthropology
LiveScience: Ancient Arabian Stones Hint at How Humans Migrated Out of Africa
By Charles Q. Choi, Live Science Contributor
Ancient stone artifacts recently excavated from Saudi Arabia possess similarities to items of about the same age in Africa — a discovery that could provide clues to how humans dispersed out of Africa, researchers say.
Modern humans originated about 200,000 years ago in Africa. However, scientists have long debated when and how the modern human lineage spread out of Africa.
University of Kansas via PhysOrg: Researchers search for evidence of earliest inhabitants of Central Great Plains
by George Diepenbrock
Aug 29, 2014
A team led by University of Kansas Distinguished Professor Rolfe Mandel in July excavated a northeast Kansas site in Pottawatomie County seeking to find artifacts tied to the Clovis and Pre-Clovis peoples, the founding populations of the Americas.
The team is awaiting the results of dating of sediment samples tied to recovered artifacts, and if the sediments are confirmed to be more than 13,500 years old it would open the door to a discovery of the earliest evidence of people inhabiting this part of the state and the Central Great Plains.
Smithsonian Magazine: The Kennewick Man Finally Freed to Share His Secrets
He’s the most important human skeleton ever found in North America—and here, for the first time, is his story
By Douglas Preston
Smithsonian Magazine
In the summer of 1996, two college students in Kennewick, Washington, stumbled on a human skull while wading in the shallows along the Columbia River. They called the police. The police brought in the Benton County coroner, Floyd Johnson, who was puzzled by the skull, and he in turn contacted James Chatters, a local archaeologist. Chatters and the coroner returned to the site and, in the dying light of evening, plucked almost an entire skeleton from the mud and sand. They carried the bones back to Chatters’ lab and spread them out on a table.
The skull, while clearly old, did not look Native American. At first glance, Chatters thought it might belong to an early pioneer or trapper. But the teeth were cavity-free (signaling a diet low in sugar and starch) and worn down to the roots—a combination characteristic of prehistoric teeth. Chatters then noted something embedded in the hipbone. It proved to be a stone spearpoint, which seemed to clinch that the remains were prehistoric. He sent a bone sample off for carbon dating. The results: It was more than 9,000 years old.
Tel Aviv University (Israel) via PhysOrg: Ancient metal workers were not slaves but highly regarded craftsmen
August 28, 2014
In 1934, American archaeologist Nelson Glueck named one of the largest known copper production sites of the Levant "Slaves' Hill." This hilltop station, located deep in Israel's Arava Valley, seemed to bear all the marks of an Iron Age slave camp – fiery furnaces, harsh desert conditions, and a massive barrier preventing escape. New evidence uncovered by Tel Aviv University archaeologists, however, overturns this entire narrative.
In the course of ongoing excavations at Timna Valley, Dr. Erez Ben-Yosef and Dr. Lidar Sapir-Hen of TAU's Department of Archaeology and Near Eastern Cultures analyzed remnants of food eaten by copper smelters 3,000 years ago. The result of this analysis, published in the journal Antiquity, indicates that the laborers operating the furnaces were in fact skilled craftsmen who enjoyed high social status and adulation. They believe their discovery may have ramifications for similar sites across the region.
"What we found represents a general trend or reality related to metal workers in antiquity," said Dr. Ben-Yosef. "They had a very unique role in society, and we can demonstrate this by looking at Timna."
BBC: Hadrian's Wall dig unearths 2,000-year-old toilet seat
Archaeologists have unearthed a 2,000-year-old, perfectly preserved wooden toilet seat at a Roman fort on Hadrian's Wall in Northumberland.
Experts at Vindolanda believe it is the only find of its kind and dates from the 2nd Century.
Heritage Daily: Two ancient Maya cities discovered in the jungle of southeastern Mexico
In the tropical forest of central Yucatan peninsula, two large Maya sites have been discovered by an archaeological expedition led by Ivan Šprajc, of the Research Center of the Slovenian Academy of Sciences and Arts (ZRC SAZU).
While not very far from the modern towns of Xpujil and Zoh Laguna, in the southeastern part of the Mexican state of Campeche, the two sites are located in the northern zone of the depopulated and hardly accessible Calakmul Biosphere Reserve.
Utah State University via PhysOrg: Utah's Great Gallery rock art younger than expected, say scientists
by Mary-Ann Muffoletto
Aug 25, 2014
(Phys.org) —Ancient Barrier Canyon-style paintings crafted on sunset-washed rock faces of the Great Gallery, located in Horseshoe Canyon in southern Utah's Canyonlands National Park, are younger than expected, say Utah State University scientists.
In the Aug. 25, 2014, online 'Early Edition of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences,' USU scientists Joel Pederson, Steven Simms and Tammy Rittenour; USU alum Melissa Jackson Chapot of Wales' Aberystwyth University, Reza Sohbati and Andrew Murray of Aarhus University and the Technical University of Denmark, and Gary Cox of Canyonlands National Park report findings from studies using cutting-edge luminescence dating techniques that narrow the time frame for the famed paintings of enigmatic human-like figures. These results disprove proposed hypotheses of the age of the prehistoric drawings, thought by some to be among the oldest artifacts of the American Southwest.
Irish Examiner: Vikings were experts in recycling and reclamation
By Eoin English
Irish Examiner Reporter
The earliest Vikings settlers of 11th century Cork were recycling and land reclamation experts, and were trading with Europe, a major report on two of the city’s most significant archaeological sites has found.
The settlers were reusing wooden planks from their old long-boats to build jetties; to reclaim land from the River Lee; and as key support structures in their homes.
They were also importing wine from France and exporting hides to Europe, from their settlement near the South Gate Bridge.
The evidence was unearthed during large-scale excavations of two sites off South Main St almost a decade ago.
Siberian Times (Russia): Mighty Siberian hero warrior reveals his secrets from almost 1,000 years ago
By Ksenia Lugovskaya
25 August 2014
First exclusive pictures inside the grave of 'giant' warlord horseman who held sway in the 11th century but lost his left arm in his final battle.
The remains of the fearsome warrior - who towered some 25 centimetres over his peers - were unearthed by archeologists near Omsk in an ancient burial mound. Experts are intrigued by his death mask and the elaborate nature of his grave which indicates his importance.
Nicknamed 'Bogatyr' or 'Great Warrior', he is believed to have been trained in combat since childhood. He was buried with the massive fang of a bear embedded in his nose, seen as a sign of his strength and power.
News in English (Norway): Medieval graves unearthed in Oslo
August 26, 2014
Archaeologists working in advance of a major railway expansion project in Oslo have unearthed around 100 skeletons from more graves found in the area around the city’s Middelalderparken, a park on the site of Oslo’s oldest area dating back to the Middle Ages.
The Columbus Dispatch:
Sunday August 24, 2014 10:19 AM
When the first Europeans entered the Ohio valley, they encountered hundreds of mysterious earthen mounds and enclosures.
According to University of Cincinnati architectural historian John Hancock, a primary reason the ancient American earthworks seemed so mysterious was their vast scale and subtle geometries. That made them fundamentally different from traditional Western ideas of what architecture should look like.
Wanting to learn more about these strange and monumental structures, European-American settlers, soldiers and missionaries often asked local American Indians about them. The answers the Indians provided tell us much about what the historic tribes of the eastern Woodlands thought about the earthworks, but they do not appear to cast much light on their original purpose and meaning.
Science Magazine: The strange history of the North American Arctic
By Jia You
Archaeologists mapping ancient cultures in the North American Arctic—a region spanning present-day Greenland—have long puzzled over how different cultures relate to one another. Now, an unprecedented large-scale genomics study has traced many such cultures to the Paleo-Eskimos, a people who early inhabited the harsh environment continuously for 4000 years, only to vanish mysteriously about 700 years ago. The discovery could change how scientists understand migration patterns in the North American Arctic.
CBC: Complete Inuvialuit driftwood house found in Mackenzie Delta
Max Friesen hopes to complete excavation before erosion destroys the cruciform pit house
CBC News
An archeologist from the University of Toronto is celebrating the discovery this summer of the first complete example of a cruciform pit home across from Tuktoyaktuk, N.W.T., in the Mackenzie Delta.
The structures were built by Inuvialuit from about 500 years ago up until around 1900.
"For me, it was almost the capping of my career," says Max Friesen, who’s been working in the area off and on since 1986.
Evening Sun: Eighteenth century artifacts — including a British half-penny — found during Camp Security dig
By Teresa Boeckel
Volunteers found several artifacts from the 18th century — including buttons, a British half-penny with a bust of King George II on it and a musket ball — during the second day of an archaeological dig in Springettsbury Township.
"Today we hit pay dirt," archaeologist Steve Warfel said.
Hat/Tip to annetteboardman for these stories.
Paleontology/Evolution
NPR via Minnesota Public Radio: Ebola is rapidly mutating as it spreads across West Africa
Health Michaeleen Doucleff · NPR
For the first time, scientists have been able to follow the spread of an Ebola outbreak almost in real time, by sequencing the virus' genome from people in Sierra Leone.
The findings, published Thursday in the journal Science, offer new insights into how the outbreak started in West Africa and how fast the virus is mutating.
An international team of researchers sequenced 99 Ebola genomes, with extremely high accuracy, from 78 people diagnosed with Ebola in Sierra Leone in June.
Uppsala University (Sweden) via Science Daily: New research reveals how wild rabbits were genetically transformed into tame rabbits
The genetic changes that transformed wild animals into domesticated forms have long been a mystery. An international team of scientists has now made a breakthrough by showing that many genes controlling the development of the brain and the nervous system were particularly important for rabbit domestication. The study gives answers to many genetic questions.
LiveScience: Early Human Ancestor's Brain Didn't Grow Like Modern Humans'
By Tanya Lewis, Staff Writer
August 25, 2014 03:01pm ET
The skull of an ancient human ancestor fails to show evidence of the type of brain expansion typically seen in modern human infants, according to a new study.
The "Taung child" fossil is known as the first and best example of early brain evolution in hominins, the group containing humans and their extinct relatives.
A recent study had suggested that features of the specimen allowed the Taung child's brain to grow well into infancy, as occurs in modern human children. But new brain scans of the Taung fossil show it lacks these features, suggesting the postnatal brain growth seen in modern humans may not have evolved until the rise of the Homo species, states a new study published today (Aug. 25) in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. The Homo species evolved about 2.5 million years ago.
The Atlantic: The Other Neanderthal
Meet the first human-related species to be identified with more than fossil records.
John Wenz
We don’t know what the Denisovan looked like. We don’t know how it lived, what tools it used, how tall it was, what it ate, or if it buried its dead.
But from only two teeth and a piece of finger bone smaller than a penny, we’ve been able to extract the rich history of a species that split off from Homo sapiens approximately 600,000 years ago. We know they’re more closely related to Neanderthals than humans—though still distantly. We know they made their way to Southeast Asian islands, interbreeding with indigenous modern human groups in New Guinea and Australia. We know their interspecies mingling with modern humans in mainland Asia was brief, but enough to impart a few genes. And we know Denisovan genes reveal evidence of interbreeding with Neanderthals and an even more archaic hominin species.
It’s the first human cousin species identified with more than fossil records. Instead, scientists used the DNA it left behind. There’s now a mystery on our hands: Who were the Denisovans, and where did they go?
Hat/Tip to annetteboardman for these stories.
Arizona State University: Stone-tipped spears may indicate early human cognitive, social skills
Posted: August 26, 2014
Attaching a stone tip onto a wooden spear shaft was a significant innovation for early modern humans living around 500,000 years ago. However, it was also a costly behavior in terms of time and effort to collect, prepare and assemble the spear.
Because stone tips break more frequently than wooden spears, they require more frequent replacement and upkeep, and the fragility of a broken point could necessitate multiple thrusts to an angry animal. So, why did early hunters begin to use stone-tipped spears?
To learn if there was a “wounding” advantage between using a wooden spear or a stone-tipped spear, ASU postdoctoral researcher Jayne Wilkins, doctoral student Benjamin Schoville and coauthor Kyle Brown from the University of Cape Town, conducted controlled experiments using tipped and untipped spear replications, a calibrated crossbow and ballistics gelatin. The experiments looked at the size and shape of the “wound,” penetration depth and damage done by extraction of the spear.
Geology
CBS Sports: Volcano poses threat to Penn State-UCF game in Ireland
By Tom Fornelli | College Football Writer
August 20, 2014 4:50 pm ET
In my time watching college football I've seen games canceled or delayed due to weather, but this would be a first.
Penn State and UCF are scheduled to begin their seasons Aug. 30 with a game in Ireland, but that game could be in jeopardy because of, get this: volcanoes.
Yes, it seems that there's been increased volcanic activity in Iceland, and there are concerns a volcano called Bárðarbunga could erupt. Do not ask me how to pronounce it because I have no idea.
Scripps Research Institute via PhysOrg: Mystery solved: 'Sailing stones' of death valley seen in action for the first time
August 28, 2014
Racetrack Playa is home to an enduring Death Valley mystery. Littered across the surface of this dry lake, also called a "playa," are hundreds of rocks – some weighing as much as 320 kilograms (700 pounds) – that seem to have been dragged across the ground, leaving synchronized trails that can stretch for hundreds of meters.
What powerful force could be moving them? Researchers have investigated this question since the 1940s, but no one has seen the process in action – until now.
In a paper published in the journal PLOS ONE on Aug. 27, a team led by Scripps Institution of Oceanography, UC San Diego, paleobiologist Richard Norris reports on first-hand observations of the phenomenon.
Energy
University of Delaware: Alum is innovator
UD alum leads Michigan State research team in development of solar concentrator
8:50 a.m., Aug. 27, 2014--A team of researchers at Michigan State University, which is being led by a University of Delaware alumnus, has developed a new type of solar concentrator that when placed over a window creates solar energy while allowing people to actually see through the window.
It is called a transparent luminescent solar concentrator and can be used on buildings, cell phones and any other device that has a clear surface.
And, according to Richard R. Lunt of MSU’s College of Engineering, who graduated with honors from UD in 2004 with a bachelor’s degree in chemical engineering, the key word is “transparent.”
Physics
University of Massachussets: Detecting Neutrinos, Physicists Look into the Heart of the Sun
UMass Amherst pair is part of core team “looking at the sun in all its glory”
August 27, 2014
AMHERST, Mass. – Using one of the most sensitive neutrino detectors on the planet, an international team of physicists including Andrea Pocar, Laura Cadonati and doctoral student Keith Otis at the University of Massachusetts Amherst report in the current issue of Nature that for the first time they have directly detected neutrinos created by the “keystone” proton-proton (pp) fusion process going on at the sun’s core.
The pp reaction is the first step of a reaction sequence responsible for about 99 percent of the Sun’s power, Pocar explains. Solar neutrinos are produced in nuclear processes and radioactive decays of different elements during fusion reactions at the Sun’s core. These particles stream out of the star at nearly the speed of light, as many as 420 billion hitting every square inch of the Earth’s surface per second.
Because they only interact through the nuclear weak force, they pass through matter virtually unaffected, which makes them very difficult to detect and distinguish from trace nuclear decays of ordinary materials, he adds.
Chemistry
University of Delaware: Plant-based materials
CCEI teams with consumer goods, car companies in renewable plastics research
8:54 a.m., Aug. 26, 2014--The University of Delaware’s Catalysis Center for Energy Innovation (CCEI) recently announced a research program with the Plant PET Technology Collaborative (PTC) to explore methods of producing renewable beverage bottles, packaging, automotive components and fabric from biomass.
Together, CCEI and PTC are working to accelerate the development and use of 100 percent plant-based materials to produce renewable materials used in consumer products.
PTC is a strategic working group consisting of the Coca-Cola Co., Ford Motor Co., H.J. Heinz Co., Nike Inc., and the Procter and Gamble Company.
CCEI research under the PTC program will focus on converting renewable lignocellulosic (non-food) biomass, such as trees and grasses, to plastics that perform as well as those used in existing petroleum derived materials.
Florida State University: Novel 'butterfly' molecule could build new sensors, photoenergy conversion devices
Kathleen Haughney
08/28/2014 10:12 am
Exciting new work by a Florida State University research team has led to a novel molecular system that can take your temperature, emit white light, and convert photon energy directly to mechanical motions.
And, the molecule looks like a butterfly.
Biwu Ma, associate professor in the Department of Chemical and Biomedical Engineering in the FAMU-FSU College of Engineering, created the molecule in a lab about a decade ago, but has continued to discover that his creation has many other unique capabilities.
Science Crime Scenes
Discovery News: Tomb Raiders Likely Plundered Ancient Greek Site
by Rossella Lorenzi
Aug 26, 2014 04:02 PM ET
Archaeologists on Monday entered the antechamber of Greece’s mystery tomb in Amphipolis — only to find another wall blocking the tomb’s interior as well as worrying evidence of looting in the form of a suspicious opening.
Before entering the vestibule, or antechamber, the archaeologists had to remove dozens of massive stones which sealed the entrance of the huge burial complex.
“Now the front of the monument has been revealed almost entirely,” the culture ministry said in a statement.
Hat/Tip to annetteboardman for these stories.
Science, Space, Health, Environment, and Energy Policy
Al-Ahram (Egypt): Developments in Qantara
A new rehabilitation project is shaking the dust off ruins that reveal Egypt’s great military history, writes Nevine El-Aref
Two weeks ago, archaeologists and heritage officials applauded when President Abdel-Fattah Al-Sisi gave the go-ahead for the Suez Canal Corridor Development Project (SCCDP).
The project will widen parts of the existing waterway and create a second, parallel canal. The scheme will not only develop Egypt’s economy and provide jobs, but it will also open up new tourist destinations.
Chronicle Live (UK): Future of "Pompeii of the north" in Binchester thrown into doubt as land up for sale
Concerns have been raised that the site of a Roman settlement dubbed the Pompeii of the North could be sold to developers
By Ruth Lognonne
Aug 29, 2014 16:52
The future of the region’s biggest and best-preserved Roman site has been thrown into doubt.
Binchester Roman Town in County Durham, has been put up for sale by The Church Commissioners and archaeologists fear the historic site could fall into the hands of developers.
The Roman settlement was dubbed “the Pompeii of the north” in July after archaeologists unearthed some of the most exciting historical finds in living memory.
Al-Ahram (Egypt): The restoration of Old Cairo
Old Cairo’s ancient religious sites will be open to pedestrians only after the re-opening of the Hanging Church in October, writes Nevine El-Aref
For more than three years Mugamaa Al-Adian, the religious compound, of Old Cairo has stood almost empty. Streets that were once buzzing with tourists and souvenir traders are mostly abandoned.
The area is one of the most important sites for understanding the history of the world’s three great religions. In one small part of Old Cairo, the visitor will find the Amr Ibn Al-Aas Mosque, the Coptic Museum, the Hanging Church that stands atop the Roman fortress of Babylon, and the Ben Ezra Synagogue.
Hat/Tip to annetteboardman for these stories.
Arizona State University: ASU continues to shape Arizona's energy future
Posted: August 25, 2014
Arizona State University has long taken action in shaping Arizona’s energy future.
In the next iteration of this endeavor, Gary Dirks, director of LightWorks, the Julie Ann Wrigley Global Institute of Sustainability and the Algae Testbed Public-Private Partnership (ATP3) at Arizona State University, has been named a member of the Governor’s State Energy Advisory Board.
“I am delighted to sit on the state energy advisory board, to help frame the Arizona energy narrative and to explore the many rich possibilities of Arizona’s energy future,” Dirks said.
Science Education
Peninsula Clarion: Refuge Notebook: Scottish kids help restore cabins on the Kenai National Wildlife Refuge
By Graham McDonald
In the summer of 2006 I was fortunate enough to meet Gary Titus and so began the story of this trans-Atlantic partnership between the Kenai National Wildlife Refuge in Alaska and Banchory Academy in Scotland.
Back in 2006 I was Depute Rector (vice principal) of Banchory Academy and I had travelled to Alaska with a group of 12 senior students to climb on the Harding Ice Field and to undertake some volunteer work with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.
The Herald-Dispatch: Students punch their tickets to India with a science project
LACIE PIERSON
Aug. 26, 2014 @ 12:00 AM
HUNTINGTON -- It's no secret that a good education can take a student very far in the world.
Two Huntington High School students used their education to go halfway around the world earlier this year when their work on a school science project earned them a spot in the annual GLOBE Learning Expedtion in New Delhi, India.
Elise Gooding, a senior at the school, and Sarah Cartwright, who graduated from there in May, spent Aug. 1 to 11 traveling to, and participating in, the conference, which is part of a worldwide school-based science and education program. Kalila Baker, another Huntington graduate, also worked in the study, but she was unable to attend the conference.
Hat/Tip to annetteboardman for these stories.
